Hans Georg Werdmüller

Hans Georg Werdmüller (* 1616 in Zurich ; † October 28, 1678 there ; authorized to live there ) was a Swiss military engineer who was responsible for building the fortifications of Zurich .

He was the son of the silk merchant Hans Rudolf Werdmüller and Barbara Wydenmann , who successfully continued the Seidenhof after the death of her husband in 1617 and married the officer Hans Caspar Schmid. His better known older brother Hans Rudolf Werdmüller (1614–1677) was a high officer in the Swiss, Imperial, Swedish, French and Venetian services. Werdmüller was the uncle of Johann Heinrich Rahn .

The stepfather enthused the brothers for the military and took care of their military training at academies in Zurich, Geneva and Lyon, where Hans Georg studied surveying and civil engineering from 1627 to 1633, especially fortress construction, for which he completed an internship in Graubünden from 1635 to 1637 .

In 1633 he married a third degree relative - as this was forbidden in Zurich in nearby Baden . In 1635 he was sentenced to a heavy sentence in Zurich. The marriage resulted in eleven children, some of whom showed signs of degeneration. The sons are all said to have been solitary, but in many cases, like their father, mathematically and artistically gifted.

1642-1675 he served as Schanze Mr. building the fortifications of Zurich, for which he plans had designed himself. He also made other fortifications in Switzerland ( Stein am Rhein , Aarburg ) as well as hydraulic projects such as fountains, a water pumping station in the Schipfe in 1666 ( Limmat below the Lindenhof ) and fire engines. From 1660 to 1663 he worked as a fortress builder for Elector Karl Ludwig von der Pfalz in Heidelberg. From 1663 to 1669 he was bailiff in Wädenswil , where he also built the castle.

He was also Feldzeugmeister for the Zurich troops ( Peasants' War 1653 , First Villmerger War 1656). From 1648 to 1662 and from 1675 to 1678 he was on the Small Council of Zurich.

literature

• Leo Weisz : The Werdmüller. The fates of an old Zurich family. 3 volumes, Zurich 1949.

Web links

• Regula Michel: Werdmüller, Hans Georg. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Biography at Villmerkriege.ch